The average Manhanttan apartment is ~3.5k a month. I'd say you likely got lucky if you lived comfortable on a 50k salary.
The East Village also goes all the way out to Avenue D, and the West Side, to 12th Avenue. These are transit deserts relative to the rest of the island, and priced accordingly.
The most that anyone pays is like 1.8k
I find generally fiscal rationality trumps not having a roommate.
If I need a roommate to make things work financially, I’m in the wrong job or the wrong city.
Thats because rent numbers are based on the 1.34% rental vacancy supply on the market at that point in time, self-reported by landlords.
People very frequently move in with people and other arrangements. So less than half or even 1/4th of new renters any given year actually pay the "market rent".
I was talking to a guy the other day living in a sub400 sqft place in lower manhattan in a non-luxury unit paying $2.5k.
The reason for that is that places with a reasonable commute time to and from flatiron are really terrible below ~3k, by the standards of most places which are not NYC or SF.
I worked remotely for more than two years before that, so my tolerance for commute was quite low (my NYC commute is about 20 minutes on average, and when I first moved here, it was sooo long), and I was coming from a place where ~1K/mo can get you 3000 sq ft plus a basement and over half an acre.
If you would like a package room, that's extra. In unit washer dryer, that's extra. Doorman - extra. Reasonable commute - extra. AC - extra.
Even more money if you want to live in a fashionable neigborhood (Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen) or spitting distance from a university (Washington Square, Union Square, Morningside Heights) or both (St. Mark's)